ChickenWrap's Guide-A-Week. Week 1: Galio
Too long; won't read (TL;WR): Galio is awesome
If you have questions after this read that you don't feel would fit in this post, feel free to direct them here: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/miscellaneous/aE2d7x74-i-am-a-crappy-player-that-knows-almost-everything-about-league-ama
Hello everybody. My name is ChickenWrap, and welcome to Guide-A-Week. A segment on the boards that I will be conducting involving the ins and outs of champions voted on by you, the viewer. Since this is week one, however, we're going to start with a well-known-but-little-played champion Galio, and when, where, and why you should pick him, how you should play him, and soforth.
Without further adieu, Welcome to Guide-A-Week.
http://i.imgur.com/MPIdwe8.jpg Skills and Abilities: http://i.imgur.com/oR5pMYK.png Galio's Passive, Runic Skin: Runic skin grants Galio 50% of his total magic resistance as ability power.
This is what makes Galio such a powerful anti-mage champion. By building Magic Resistance items, Galio gains bonus damage on his spells, making a Null-Magic Mantle
a great first buy on him against opposing mages who like to play aggressive. More on that in the items section.
http://i.imgur.com/tlwYbGU.png Galio's Q, Resolute Smite: Galio fires a concussive blast from his eyes to a target 235-radius area, dealing magic damage and slowing enemies hit for 2.5 seconds. RANGE: 940 COST: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 Mana COOLDOWN: 7 Seconds MAGIC DAMAGE: 80 / 135 / 190 / 245 / 300 (+ 60% AP) SLOW: 24 / 28 / 32 / 36 / 40%
This is Galio's bread-and-butter harass spell. With a 60% AP ratio and a decent slow, he can harass and set up ganks with his Resolute Smite. It has a decent AoE radius and can quickly force your opponent out of lane if you land consecutive shots. Later on in the game, this spell can become a devastating slowing nuke if it makes contact with your opponent, and due to Runic Skin, even when you build tank, this spell can hit like a truck.
http://i.imgur.com/KezzW57.png Galio's W, Bulwark Galio shields an allied champion or himself for 4 seconds, increasing their armor and magic resistance. Each time that unit takes damage, Galio is healed. The heal is 20% weaker than the last for each consecutive hit. RANGE: 800 COST: 60 Mana COOLDOWN: 13 Seconds ARMOR / MAGIC RESIST: 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 HEAL: 25 / 40 / 55 / 70 / 85 (+ 30% AP) MAX HEAL (∞ HITS): 125 / 200 / 275 / 350 / 425 (+ 150% AP)
This spell allows Galio to become even more of a tank and allows him to sustain damage in fights or while taunting the entire enemy team with his ultimate, Idol of Durand. It can also be used to quickly and easily save the life of one of his team mates. Granting up to 90 Armor and MR to someone like your ADC can be a godsend in teamfights where you are not able to peel for them for some reason. Plus if you use this upon yourself, you will automatically gain bonus Ability Power to put toward your spells due to your passive. At max rank, you will be gaining 45 Ability Power. More if you take the masteries to increase your AP or to increase your magic resistance gains.
Also your heal scales off AP. Just by using this on yourself, you're healing for more than you normally would once again because of Galio's extremely powerful passive.
http://i.imgur.com/Bi60oZs.png Galio's E, Righteous Gust Galio unleashes a gust of magical wind that deals magic damage to all enemies in its path. A directional draft remains for 5 seconds, increasing the movement speed of allies passing through it. RANGE: 1180 COST: 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90 Mana COOLDOWN: 12 Seconds MAGIC DAMAGE: 60 / 105 / 150 / 195 / 240 (+ 50% AP) MOVEMENT SPEED: 20 / 28 / 36 / 44 / 52%
This ability in conjunction with your Q, Resolute Smite, will allow you to escape ganks with ease. Do not harass with this ability. It costs more mana than your Q and deals less damage. Hold on to it for the moment your jungle comes to gank for you, or until you are ganked by your opponent. It is also useful for setting up teamfights, or to aid in engages on the enemy team. Do not use this ability to harass outside of lane-phase either, as you will quickly find yourself running out of mana. When the enemy team sees that you have no mana to protect your team, they will engage on you, and your team will most likely fall to them.
http://i.imgur.com/tGqxgJw.png Galio's R, Idol of Durand
Galio becomes a statue and channels for 2 seconds, taunting nearby foes and reducing incoming physical and magic damage by 50%.
When the channel ends, Galio bursts out of his statue form, dealing magic damage to enemies within range. The damage is increased by 5% for each attack suffered while channeling (maximum 40%). If the channel is canceled, the damage radius is reduced to 575 instead of normal.*
RANGE: 600
COST: 100 Mana
COOLDOWN: 150 / 135 / 120 Seconds
MAGIC DAMAGE: 220 / 330 / 440 (+ 60% AP)
MAX MAGIC DAMAGE: 308 / 462 / 616 (+ 84% AP)***
Note: Whilst channeling, Galio is able to cast his W and is able to use certain spells, like 
Ignite.
It's an AoE taunt that deals magic damage the more you get hit. It's very straightforward. The more people you hit with this spell, the better your odds of winning the teamfight are. You will deal seriously hefty damage with this spell, as you will more than likely be taking 8 attacks by your opponents (to cap at the 40%) over the course of your ultimate channel. If you taunt someone over a wall, they will walk toward you. This is useful if you can position correctly at the dragon and Baron pits to force your opponents to walk toward your team, if you were to channel around the corner inside the pit. It's a rare case, but it does happen and it's funny every time.
Runes
For runes, I would invest in the following: Magic Penetration Marks Health/Level Seals MR/Level Glyphs Flat armor Quints
There are a few other ways to do this depending on your team.
MR Quints are also a good option, and you can replace Health/Level Seals with Armor/Level Seals if you choose. AP Quints can also work, but will be less effective due to Galio's passive. Why not get MR AND AP instead of just one or the other?
Masteries
For Masteries, I suggest a 9/21 build that looks something like this: http://i.imgur.com/2qu5goX.jpg
Note: I only have 2 points into Legendary Guardian because I feel Second Wind and Oppression are more important than a tiny bit more resistances. Change that if you feel different
Feel free to play around with it the way you like. I choose what I do because of Galio's kit having an innate slow for Oppression and having resistance runes and Bulwark available makes Enchanted Armor a really good skill. Same with Second Wind. I want to try and balance his Armor/MR gains as much as possible. If I'm against a full AP team, I will remove my points from Hardiness completely and put them into the third tier of Resistance and the third tier of Legendary Guardian.
Protip: 2 into Hardiness and 2 into Resistance with 3 into Legendary Guardian gives 6.5 armor and 5 MR with one champion around 3 into Hardiness and 3 into Resistance with 1 into Legendary Guardian gives 6 armor and 5.5 MR with one champion around.
Suggested Item Paths Galio is a Tank first, and a Mage second. Thankfully, he can do both by just building like a tank, however some people say posh to Galio's Tank build, so I will be covering both a full Mage and a Tank path.
Tank Galio As a tank, I suggest something like this
x2
With Doran's Ring, you have more mana sustain, health, and slightly more AP granted to you.
x2
With Null Magic Mantle, you will have less mana, less health, but will be able to sustain more damage over time due to the MR of the Mantle and you will get your chalice faster.
This will be built into:
OR 
At this point, you've made the decision on if the enemy team will be delaing more magical or physical damage to you with the boots. If it's magical, I suggest following this path going further:
Feel free to get an armor item here, or a Deathcap if you're that far ahead and feel as though you do not need armor
I choose Sunfire cape or Thornmail because of the fact that they deal magical damage and you're building magic penetration with your Abyssal Scepter. Plus, your ult forces them to attack you or to just get close to you in general, which will boost the damage of those items.
For the physical damage build, I suggest something like this.
At this point, feel free to build your
. The Gauntlet will turn you into a more physical damage tank and grant you bonus damage and slows on your autos, but the Abyssal Scepter will be better if your team has strong magical damage, as it also reduces your opponents MR in your taunt field. Alternatively, you can invest in a
Or you can build like a mage.
Mage Galio
With this build, I still suggest starting with
If you do not like
and eventually turn it into an
This will give you a lot more mana to play around with, and a shield for when you use your ultimate. Used in conjunction with your W, this can be a great way to become a pseudo tank for a short time.
From there, you can build either:
OR 
Because the MR also gives Galio AP, these boots are not a bad option on him if you're building him to be a mage.
From there, I suggest getting an
Seeing a trend with that item and why it's so good?
So right now one would have:
OR
OR
would be a good buy next, giving us four items.
From here, it's really up to you.
These are all solid item choices. Feel free to pick two of them. Liandry's has a burn effect that works with your Q due to Q's slowing debuff. Plus, it will proc off your ultimate!
Laning Galio is a very powerful laner, be it in his aggression or in his ability to help ganks, his powerful roam, or just his ability to stay in a lane for a long period of time.
Early In the early-game, Galio's mana sustain is not ideal. Throw out your Qs when your opponent goes to CS and see how much damage it does. If it's a significant amount, continue to do so. Be sure to lead your skillshots so that they hit your opponent. If they are going back and forth, throw your Q below them when they finish moving up, and throw your Q above them when they finish moving down. If you are against a mage or a champion with little MR, you should have no problems bullying them out of lane if you keep your distance from them and their spells. Be sure to ward up, and the lane will be over before you know it.
If you are having trouble, I would suggest playing further back and using Bulwark for sustain when they go to attack you. You will lose more mana this way, but you will stay alive far longer than you otherwise would have. Hold out for a gank because Galio is really strong at setting them up, especially after level 6.
Galio can be played top, mid, or even in the support role. This applies to all of his lanes.
Middle In the mid-game you should seek to roam and help your team. Your taunt can make or break teamfights. Your damage at this point in the game is very strong. Your Bulwark is a powerful spell that can easily save the lives of your team mates. Use them. Seek out Dragons and ganks. Galio is just as powerful at ganking as he is setting up ganks with his E Q R combo. Get your team to group together and start pushing down towers. There will be little the opponent can do to stop you if they don`t have plenty of CC.
Late In the late-game, you trade off your super-damage for super-tanking. You will deal a ton of your damage with your Sunfire/Thornmail/Abyssal Scepter/Ult being used together. Your Qs will still hit relatively hard, but not as hard as you may like but that's OK. Your job has transitioned from damage-tank playmaker to unstoppable-wall playmaker. Use your judgement to engage teamfights where you can taunt multiple opponents. One good taunt can singlehandedly close out a game. Always stick by your team, there's no reason not to. Be sure to peel for your Marksman as much as you can with your Q W and E. If things get bad enough and you still have your R available, use it to save your Marksman or midlaner (if you opted to play top, jungle, or support). The opponent won't know what to do, and you might make them waste a ton of money on things they don't need, like Quicksilver Sashes.
In the Jungle Galio has a few problems right off the bat whilst jungling in that he uses abilities and they cost mana. If possible, start at your Blue buff. This should give you enough mana sustain until you can buy yourself more.
Galio is an extremely powerful ganker, as states before. Enter lane with your E and see if you can also hit the person you're ganking with it. Follow that up with a Q for a powerful slow nuke. If they escape, you most likely blew a flash and can come back later to secure the kill. After you hit level 6, nobody will escape your ganks. Gank as usual, but then press R.
Good game.
I suggest taking Ancient Golem and then building into the typical Tank Galio path, grabbing Athene's as soon as possible for when you're out blue buff. Golem will allow you decent sustain in the jungle, but when it comes to the mid-late game, you'll be sad you have no mana for poking.
That's it for now. If you enjoyed the guide, be sure to give it an upvote and tell everybody you know. Discussion is always welcome in the comment section below.
Who would you like to see a guide for next week?
bot, and flashing for a wombo at level 6.
